This invention relates to a photograph binding apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus which is used for making a booklet or album.
Heretofore, in a store offering photoprinting services, the usual practice of the staff working in the store has been to hand over to their customers a number of photographs, which were made from one negative film, in an individually separated form. Such individual photographs can become scattered, or even lost, before being placed in an orderly fashion in an album or the like. Because of this problem, some photoprinting service stores have worked out a way of preparing a handy type album, formed of one set of mount sheets having many pockets formed thereon, by attaching a transparent cover to each mount sheet for keeping one photograph in each pocket. Thus, the stores can hand over to their customers this handy album with photographs in it.
To save time and labor to insert one photograph in each pocket, the present applicant has proposed a new apparatus for making a booklet or album formed by attaching one side of a bundle of photographs to a cover sheet, and already has filed a patent application in the Japanese Patent Office relating to this invention (the application has not been published yet).
However, the just-mentioned apparatus uses a hot melt type bonding agent, and so it is necessary to apply heat in order to melt the bonding agent. Therefore, the apparatus is provided with a heating device to set the heating temperature to a desired level in order to obtain a melting temperature. As a result, the construction of the apparatus becomes complicated and operation of the apparatus requires increased consumption of electric power. Moreover, as the hot melt type melting agent lacks elasticity, another problem arises in that photographs held in the booklet or album are difficult to turn over.
Also, in the known apparatus, when photographs of one customer's order are arranged into one group, the lower ends of the photographs are straightened and then are abutted against the surface of a hot melt type adhesive layer coated on the cover sheet. Then, one side edge of each of the photographs is pressed against a back guide plate so as to be straightened. As photographs are straightened by hand in this way, it is difficult to bind the photographs efficiently. Moreover, when a booklet or album is made using the abovementioned apparatus, first a plurality of photographs are attached to the cover sheet in a vertically erect posture, and then the cover sheet is bent in a channel shape to form a front cover portion, a back cover portion, and a rear cover portion. Because that bending is performed by hand, it has been practically impossible to bend the cover sheet attractively.